The Cutting Season: A Novel

Caren Gray manages Belle Vie, a sprawling antebellum plantation that sits between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, where the past and the present coexist uneasily. The estate's owners have turned the place into an eerie tourist attraction, complete with full-dress re-enactments and carefully restored slave quarters. Outside the gates, a corporation with ambitious plans has been busy snapping up land from struggling families who have been growing sugar cane for generations, and now replacing local employees with illegal laborers. Tensions mount when the body of a female migrant worker is found in a shallow grave on the edge of the property.

Enjoyed the Gothic feeling of the plantation and the spooky feeling I got in the pit of my stomach every time Caren had to race across the plantation in the dark. I thought Quincy Tyler Bernstine did a good job with the narration, especially Caren's internal dialogue. Might have wished for a better outcome for Caren and Eric, but then it would be a romance novel. It's well worth a listening.

Ready to Kill: Nathan McBride, Book 4

When a mysterious note referencing a top-secret US operation is tossed over the wall of the embassy in Nicaragua, Nathan McBride and his old pal Harv are called out of retirement by CIA Director Rebecca Cantrell and sent to Central America. Cantrell wants the situation resolved quickly and knows that Nathan is the man to do it; after all, he has a history with the place. The jungle he and Harv are about to land in is the same one that Nathan barely escaped with his life decades before, an ordeal that left him physically and psychologically scarred.

You are always waiting for the next twist and turn in the story, but the relationship between Nathan & Harv is one of the strongest points of this series. Their relationship is the underpinning of each story reflecting strength of character, trust and loyalty. The addition of Holly adds an extra special twist. Dick Hill is the absolute best when it comes to a narrator! He makes every character come alive. If you have been following the series I don't think you'll be disappointed. You can read this book as a stand alone, however, you'll enjoy it more if you understand the relationship between Nathan & Harv.

Through the Evil Days: A Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery, Book 8

On a frigid January night, Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne and Reverend Clare Fergusson are called to the scene of a raging fire, that quickly becomes a double homicide and kidnapping. Which is the very last thing Russ needs.... Currently he's struggling with the prospect of impending fatherhood. And his new wife is not at all happy with his proposal for their long-delayed honeymoon: A week in an unelectrified ice-fishing cabin.

It was such a long wait for this book in the series that perhaps my expectations were too great. I found it to be slow and difficult to hold my interest. There were numerous story lines and most were left hanging. I'm hoping JSF will not take as long to complete the next book in the series because I really do enjoy Claire and Russ and all the characters in this series.

A Trick of the Light: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel

“Hearts are broken,” Lillian Dyson carefully underlined in a book. “Sweet relationships are dead.” But now Lillian herself is dead. Found among the bleeding hearts and lilacs of Clara Morrow's garden in Three Pines, shattering the celebrations of Clara's solo show at the famed Musée in Montreal.

I eagerly await each new book in the 3 Pines series. Ms Penny has created a cast of characters that feel as comfortable as family. There is mystery and intrigue, but integrity and a moral as well. Ralph Gosham is the voice of these characters, especially Gamache and it would be unthinkable to ever make a change in narrator.

Missing You

Number-one New York Times best-selling author Harlan Coben set huge sales records with last year’s Six Years - and he’s poised to do it again in his next breathtaking stand-alone thriller. Harlan Coben, author of six consecutive instant number-one New York Times best sellers and a total of 24 award-winning, best-selling, and internationally acclaimed novels, returns with another ripped-from-real-life thriller full of impossibly high emotional stakes and the real-to-life characters for which he has become famous.

I don't write a review for every book I listen to, but I enjoyed MISSING YOU so much that I want to add my two cents. While the book begins with one back story Coben cleverly intertwines a second so that the twists and turns come quickly and keep the reader on their toes. I loved the character, Kat Donovan and hope that Coben might build a future book around her. I was kept guessing so that the ending came as a surprise to me.

This was the first book that I had listened to January LaVoy narrate and thought she did a very good job of keeping the characters separate with their own voices although I didn't always care for the voice, ie Titus. I would look forward to listening to another book that she narrates.

The Winter Sea

History has all but forgotten.... In the spring of 1708, an invading Jacobite fleet of French and Scottish soldiers nearly succeeded in landing the exiled James Stewart in Scotland to reclaim his crown. Now, Carrie McClelland hopes to turn that story into her next best-selling novel. Settling herself in the shadow of Slains Castle, she creates a heroine named for one of her own ancestors and starts to write. But then she discovers her novel is more fact than fiction....

I enjoy historical fiction and this book was a pleasant surprise. This period in Scotland's history is one I don't know much about so I appreciated learning a little more about King James. The narrator did an excellent job with the accent as well as the different voices. An easy book to enjoy and a fun listen in an ice storm with no power.

Eye for an Eye: A Dewey Andreas Novel, Book 4

In Ben Coes' latest, Eye for an Eye, Dewey Andreas faces the toughest odds of his life as one of China's most powerful men has decided to do whatever he must to take down Dewey - and inflicts a horrifying loss. Andreas - former Army Ranger and Delta - is a man of great skills and cunning. His opponent, Fao Bhang, is ruthless, determined, and with no limit to the assets at his disposal. In this conflict, there are only two possible outcomes. And only one Dewey Andreas.

I am missing Vince Flynn and Mitch Rapp! When I found Ben Coes and Dewey Andreas I was hopeful that I'd found a new series to make up for losing Flynn and Rapp. Dewey is certainly a strong character, but his escape from China really pushed the envelope on the believable. Coes' choice of character to kill off was a huge disappointment. I wonder why male authors of this genre so often find it necessary to remove a significant female from the story. Maybe they aren't good at writing the feminine role!?

Light of the World: A Dave Robicheaux Novel, Book 20

In Light of the World, sadist and serial killer Asa Surrette narrowly escaped the death penalty for the string of heinous murders. But following a series of damning articles written by Dave Robicheaux’s daughter Alafair about possible other crimes committed by Surette, the killer escapes from a prison transport van and heads to Montana - where an unsuspecting Dave happens to have gone to take in the sweet summer air, accompanied by Alafair, his wife Molly, faithful partner Clete, and Clete’s newfound daughter, Gretchen Horowitz.

I couldn't wait to purchase this one after CREOLE BELL and I wasn't disappointed. I haven't read them in order so I was surprised to be taken to the beautiful land of Montana.Will Patton is an exceptional narrator and really brings Dave and Clete alive. If I could make a suggestion I would like to see the addition of a female narrator, especially when the female family members play a significant roles in the story. Bringing Gretchen Horowitz back adds a complex dimension to the story. She also, provides a good companion character to Alafair. I will be excited to learn when Book 21 is to be published, but in the meantime I will go back and fill in the earlier ones that I haven't listened to.

Word of Honor

He is a good man, a brilliant corporate executive, an honest, handsome family man admired by men and desired by women. But a lifetime ago Ben Tyson was a lieutenant in Vietnam.There the men under his command committed a murderous atrocity -- and together swore never to tell the world what they had done. Now the press, army justice, and the events he tried to forget have caught up with Ben Tyson.

DeMille has written a powerful, emotional story. Ben Tyson was not an easy character to like in the beginning, but by the end I found him to be a person of honor and integrity. Having served in the USN through the Vietnam War I found myself at various times feeling angry, sad and frustrated. DeMille's research and preparation demonstrated his knowledge of the intricacies of war, the military and the military's judicial system. I highly recommend this book, it is well worth the credit.Scott Brick is the best, he really makes the characters and story come alive.

A Discovery of Witches

Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library.

In no way is this book Twilight for Adults. Deborah Harkness immediately draws us into her story by way of the immediate attraction between Diana and Matthew. Their love story is at the same time charming and sweet as well as hot and sexy. Once you get drawn into the story you realize that there are more critical messages entwined in the story.

The author has written a book about 3 groups of creatures, Witches, Demons and Vampires. For centuries they have made war with each other and now they find themselves in need of each other. The magic of the present day Witches isn't as strong and complex as it once was. The Vampires aren't as strong as they once were, they've taken to feeding on raw meat as much as humans. Matthew and his son Marcus along with Miriam are working diligently in their lab to learn the genetics of all these groups , how they're changing and the problems these cellular changes are causing for them. The Bishop farmhouse finds itself welcoming Matthew and Diana, the Vampires Marcus and Miriam, a Demon married couple to live along with Sarah and Emily. It is incumbent upon them to learn to work together for the better good of all. Perhaps this is a message that can be applied to the world we live in as well.

We live in a world of many different peoples who over the centuries have reigned down terror and war on one another. With technology and a global economy we are in need of learning to work together for the greater good. Perhaps Deborah Harkness wished to give us more to think about than Twilight for adults. In the meantime I'm eager to read the next installment, to follow Matthew and Diana on their journey as well as their romance and to learn how those left in the present are faring with the members of the Convention.

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